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Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

Thucydides

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Thucydides
Historian
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Suffering
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Right
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World
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More quotes by Thucydides

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we know that there can never be any solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities that is worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each others honesty
Thucydides
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In peace and prosperity states and individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find themselves suddenly confronted with imperious necessities but war takes away the easy supply of daily wants and so proves a rough master that brings most men's characters to a level with their fortunes
Thucydides
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Amassing of wealth is an opportunity for good deeds, not hubris
Thucydides
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War is a matter not so much of arms as of money.
Thucydides
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We Greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness.
Thucydides
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...knowing the secret of happiness to be freedom, and the secret of freedom a brave heart, not idly to stand aside from the enemy's onset.
Thucydides
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I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time
Thucydides
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If you give way, you will instantly have to meet some greater demand, as having been frightened into obedience in the first instance while a firm refusal will make them clearly understand that they must treat you more as equals.
Thucydides
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Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.
Thucydides
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In a word I claim that our city as a whole is an education to Greece.
Thucydides
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Indeed men too often take upon themselves in the prosecution of their revenge to set the example of doing away with those general laws to which all can look for salvation in adversity, instead of allowing them to subsist against the day of danger when their aid may be required
Thucydides
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For men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.
Thucydides
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The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.
Thucydides
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Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.
Thucydides
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The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage.
Thucydides
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when night came on, the Macedonians and the barbarian crowd suddenly took fright in one of those mysterious panics to which great armies are liable
Thucydides
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The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.
Thucydides
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Indeed it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons honest, and are ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the first.
Thucydides
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I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth.
Thucydides
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We secure our friends not by accepting favours but by doing them.
Thucydides